I was born in 1990, 17 years after the landmark decision of Roe vs. Wade. Throughout my entire life, I have known that I have the right to make my own decisions regarding my body. I cannot imagine a time in which I did not have this power, or even worse, when someone else had that power over me. [1]

As I matured and learned what it meant to be a woman, I could not help but think of the stories my mother once told me. I never knew what Roe v. Wade was until I watched my father laugh at a painting we saw at an art show. The painting was of a small row boat with the words “Roe or Wade” painted across the side of it. When I asked my father what it was, his only reply was, “It was the most important decision the country has made for women since I can remember.”

My father was an OB-GYN for over 40 years. Throughout my entire childhood, my mother and father made me know the importance of female health and to never allow anyone to make decisions about my body other than myself.

Seeing as Roe has been the law of the land for several decades, confirmed by the Supreme Court 40 years ago this month, I never thought I would have to go to the mat to protect a right won for me when my mother was a young woman. But the last two years have taught me that the opposite is true. Recent polling from Gallup suggests that 77 percent of the population believes that abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances. But despite that, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 2011 and 2012 represented the worst two years on record for laws that attempted to restrict access to this constitutionally protected right with 92 and 43 restrictions, respectively.

As these laws passed around the country I thought about their impact on my friends, my sisters, my aunt, my mother and most importantly myself. I thought about the girl in my dorm freshman year of college who at age 17 had an abortion. I knew this girl but still couldn’t imagine being in her shoes, so how could these politicians have known that they were making the right decision for her. In my 22 years, I have never known anything but having the right to make my own decisions and having affordable access to healthcare. The thought of losing that terrifies me.

Thankfully on election night, voters across the nation made it clear that they were opposed to policies that demean and dismiss women as they rejected candidates whom were vocal opponents of safe and legal abortion.

Now, in a new year, it is time for politicians who are seemingly obsessed with banning or chipping away at abortion access to instead focus on policies that help women. Let’s come together on the shared belief that politicians should not interfere in a woman’s personal decision about her pregnancy and move away from labels like “pro-choice” and “pro-life” which divide us.

I’ve never called upon my local representative for advice about mammograms, prenatal care, or cancer screenings, so I don’t think there is any reason why I would do the same to ask about when or whether I should have a child. I may not have been around to protect access to abortion for women for the past 40 years, but you can count on me to be there for the next 40.
Caitlin Plotkin is a Planned Parenthood intern in Denver.